A typical beverage dispensing system includes a storage container for storing a liquid to be dispensed and a pump for pumping the liquid from the storage container to one or more dispensinFg in tes. With this arrangement, the entire dispensing system must be shut down in order to replace an empty storage container with a full one.
In an effort to avoid this downtime of the dispensing system, two storage containers can be provided, together with a switching system for switching from the empty container to the full container. One such apparatus is shown in Harvill U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,461. In the patented apparatus, the switching system comprises first and second check valves in the circuit with the first and second storage containers, respectively, and a manually operated bypass valve for bypassing either of the check valves. With this system, the switching from an empty container to a full container is obtained automatically with the check valves, but it is necessary to manually operate the bypass valve in order to permit replacement of the empty container with a full one.